Harlem Heroes, Part 13

NAME
Harlem Heroes, Part 13 (according to Wikipedia, this is the second part of a strip also known as 'The Flying Scotsmen')

FIRST PUBLISHED
2000 A.D. Prog 13

DATELINE
21 May 77

PAGE COUNT
4

REPRINTS
Sam Slade Robo-Hunter (Volume 2, Issue 15), 2000AD Extreme Edition 13 and The Complete Harlem Heroes.

SYNOPSIS
The Harlem Heroes play the Flying Scotsmen.

FIRSTS & LASTS
First strip for which I am unable to think of a First.

INFORMATION
Neck-locks and pile-drivers are permitted in Aeroball.

The Flying Scotsmen score two air-strikes to the Harlem Heroes nil.

GIANT
He loses the blast-off to Red Macardle and then shoulder charges him at 80 mph. The Scotsman is unaffected.

SLIM
He uses a pair of fire extinguishers to end the Flying Scotsmen pre-game stunt.

HAIRY
Giant is shocked that the Flying Scotsmen's Number 4 manages to break Hairy's grip.

CONRAD KING
His specialty is a flying mid-air hitch-kick.

OTHER CHARACTERS
RED MACARDLE
He calls himself The King O' The Rigs. Red blocks King's shot at an air-strike, but manages to avoid touching the score tank and avoids the penalty pen.

DEATHS
None.

BEST LINES
Hairy: "Just in case you're wonderin', brother, this is called a neck-lock!"
Flying Scotsmen Number 4: "Och, ye...dinna...say..!...And this is an old-fashioned pile-driver--All the way from Aberdeen!"

WORST LINES
Commentator: "Striiike!"

Air or oil? Oh, neither.

CATCHPHRASES
Flying Scotsmen fans just shout "Scotlaaand!" again.

CONTINUITY & CROSSOVERS
None.

INFLUENCES & REFERENCES
Unknown.

MISTAKES
Has Sammy been replaced? If not, the Heroes only playing with a team of six, which wasn't permitted in Part 4.

RETROSPECT
None.

NOTES
None.

CREDITS
There are no credits printed in the strip itself and so the following are taken from Barney.

Script: Tom Tully
Artist: Dave Gibbons
Letters: Dave Gibbons

REVIEW
This is treading water. This is the most-straight-forward part of the strip so far: no conspiracy, no Louis Mayer, no Ulysses Cord, no Artie Gruber, just pure unadulterated aeroball and man it's dull. What's at stake? Superior team might win. Who cares? After the drama of earlier instalments this was always going to seem tame by comparison.

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